Saima Wazed received Rajuk plot without filing formal application

Ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her family members crossed all the limits of irregularities while getting plots from Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) as her daughter Saima Wazed (Putul) took away a 10-katha plot just at the whim of her mother. 

"… Saima, with malicious intent, illegally influenced her mother [Sheikh Hasina], and filed an application to her mother rather than to Rajuk, violating the laws, rules, policies and legal procedures regarding the allocation of plots in the Purbachal New City Housing Project," Investigation officer (IO) and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Assistant Director Afnan Jannat Keya said.

"She had done that despite the fact that she and her family members owned a house or flat or housing facility in the area under the jurisdiction of Rajuk in Dhaka city," the officer added.

Then prime minister's personal secretary-1 Mohammad Salahuddin sent a letter to Ministry of Housing and Public Works, stating following an application to the prime minister, a direction has been given to allocate a 10-kath plot in favor of Saima Wazed from the reserved quota of the government.

"As per the rules, prime minister herself used to recommend and sign the proposals to allocate plots under different quota reserved for prime minister's office. She signed the proposal but destroyed or hide the document to save the people involved in the wrongdoing," the IO said in the chargesheet.

ACC filed the case on 12 January 2025 against 16 people, including ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Saima Wazed Putul and submitted the charge-sheet on 10 March, adding names of two more accused, bringing the total number of accused to 18. 

The charge-sheet further said Saima Wazed, the incumbent South East Asian regional director for the World Health Organization (WHO), took the allocation of the 10 katha plot and registered it in her name and still kept it under her possession.

"Sheikh Hasina, with her direct influence and abetment under her special authority, violated the law in allocating plots in favor of her daughter Saima. She, with her direct influence and abetment as the prime minister, violated the Dhaka Improvement Trust (Allotment of Land) Act in allocating a plot in favor of the accused Saima, and the allotment of the plot, described as illegal favor and illegal excess, for malicious purposes, is a criminal misconduct and abuse of power, which has benefited herself and her family financially," the charge-sheet added.

In the chargesheet, the IO further said the then prime minister's personal secretary-1 Mohammad Salahuddin and Sheikh Hasina in collusion with each other, destroyed or hide the document in this connection.

The court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Zakir Hossain Galib on 13 January set 10 April to file a probe report in the case lodged against 16, including ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her daughter Saima Wazed, for allegedly illegally acquiring government plots in the Purbachal New Town project.

The court passed the order, accepting the first information report in the case.

The other accused in the case are Ministry of Housing and Public Works administrative officer Md Saiful Islam Sarkar, senior assistant secretary Purobi Goldar, additional secretary Qazi Wasi Uddin, secretary Md Shahid Ullah Khandaker, former Rajuk chairman's personal assistant Md Anisur Rahman Miah, former Rajuk member Mohammad Khurshid Alam, Kabir Al Asad, Tanmay Das, Mohammad Nasir Uddin, Major (retd) Samsuddin Ahmed Chowdhury, Md Nurul Islam, Sheikh Shahinul Islam, Md Hafizur Rahman and Habibur Rahman.

Afnan Jannat Keya filed the case on 12 January, accusing Saima of abusing her mother Sheikh Hasina's power to take the allotment of Plot 017 on Road 203 under Sector 27 of Purbachal New Town Project, despite owning a house or flat or having housing facility within the jurisdiction of Rajuk in Dhaka city, in her or her family members' names.

The ACC filed six separate cases against Sheikh Hasina and her family members for alleged irregularities in allocating 60-katha plots in their names. Apart from Sheikh Hasina and Putul, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Sheikh Rehana, Tulip Rizwana Siddiq, Radwan Mujib Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq were implicated in the cases.

"The ACC has filed chargesheets in the six cases against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her family members. The accused are still at large and the concerned courts are likely to issue arrest warrants against them after taking the chargesheets into cognizance. If the accused remain absconding, the courts can initiate trial after publishing gazettes in this connection," ACC public prosecutor Mahmud Hossain Jahangir told BSS.